ESSENCE: Interdisciplinary- International Journal of Concerned African Philosophers

To date, religious institutions are a significant group in Nigeria's society but, it is a fact that people with physical disabilities still are facing an incredible socio-economic marginalization, stigmatization and infrastructural exclusion. Often mistakenly, society collapses a person with a disability to a “mere object of compassion”, and not a “subject of equal human rights. This study essentially examines the church of Nigeria critically in terms of its capacity and responsibility of addressing this entangled injustice against equality. The objectives in this study are to compare the theological perspectives of the churches towards disability; to explore factors that impede people with disabilities to participate and to review the churches attitude towards persons with disabilities in relation to socio-political advocacy within the local church community; and to identify action points that enable each church to practice on a regular basis within the framework of faith. The major finding was an over-arching paradox; the church is far more influential in its moral aspects and on the ground socially, but has made more disproportionate contributions towards short-term palliative, than long-term empowering and systemic changes. Furthermore, research has demonstrated churches are not only good epicenters for de-stigmatizing a community but must adopt an inclusive theology and make themselves accessible to the body. The paper posits that the church is strategically called to become a voice that connects social injustice and social equity; that it has not a mandate to just be superficial and make trivial gestures of charity; but has a prophetic mandate that demands for social equity. There is a strong call to have comprehensive disability inclusion in training of church personnel, to have infrastructural accessibility requirements for all worship centres, and to use the extensive civic platform used by church leaders to stand up for the nation to enforce its disability rights act.

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